Perdido 03

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Holding Andrew Cuomo Accountable For His Common Core/Testing Agenda

Everywhere Governor Cuomo goes these days, he’s dogged by questions
from reporters about what’s widely perceived as a rocky start up of New
York State’s adoption of the new national Common Core standards for
school children.

Cuomo was asked essentially the same question in recent days in stops from Buffalo, to Lake Placid.

“Can you talk about the common core, a lot of people have issues with it," asked a reporter in Lake Placid on November 20th.

In
his answers lately , Governor Cuomo distances himself from the growing
discontent that’s led to raucous meetings between state education
officials and angry parents and teachers.

At an event on Staten
Island, Cuomo called the implementation of the Common Core standards
“problematic” . In Lake Placid, he acknowledged the unease.

“It’s been very controversial,” Cuomo said. “It’s very controversial here in the state.”

Just
a month ago, on October 23rd, Cuomo sounded much more supportive of the
Common Core implementation, saying change can be hard “even when it’s
right”.

“When you come in with a big change, there’s normally
fits and starts, and it’s a little jerky, so that’s to be expected,
“Cuomo said. “But Common Core curriculum, nationwide that’s where the
country’s going, that’s the state of the art.”

Cuomo made those
comments just a few days after a raucous meeting in Poughkeepsie, where
parents and teachers complained to State Education Commissioner John
King that their children are taking too many tests, and teachers are not
given adequate preparation to teach the new curriculum required to meet
the standards. At one point, King was shouted down.

The
Poughkeepsie forum was also Commissioner King’ s first meeting with
parents and teachers since the first set of exams were released since
the Common Core was adopted. Those tests concluded that two thirds of
the state’s third through eight graders were not adequately prepared to
be on track for college or careers in the 21st century.

Since
then, unease about the adoption of the standards has only grown. It’s
been the subject of two sometimes contentious legislative hearings, and
at a recent forum on Long Island, things were not much calmer.

In
New York State, the Governor does not have direct control over
education. Cuomo has no power to appoint the education commissioner.
King was chosen by the State Board of Regents. The Regents members are
picked by the legislature. Cuomo is quick to point that out.

“The governor is not in charge of the State Education Department,” Cuomo has said more than once.

A
recent Siena Poll shows New Yorkers have become disenchanted with the
Common Core. Nearly half hold doubts about its effectiveness.

Steve
Greenberg, a spokesmen for Siena polls, says voters, though, may not
make the distinction of who has authority over the education department,
and Cuomo will likely be held accountable whether he’s actually in
charge of it or not.

“Education is a key issue, and I think
what this poll says is that all of those involved in education have to
do a better job of informing the New York voters and citizens of what
their efforts are, what their purpose is , and how they’re going about
doing it,” Greenberg said.

Cuomo has not been shy in speaking
out about education matters in the past . He has referred to himself as
the “lobbyist” for students, and in the past has railed against
excessive school spending, saying “more money” is not the answer. Cuomo
does have the power in the state budget, to partly determine who much
money schools will receive.

Cuomo also advocated for the state’s quick
adoption of the new higher standards, as well as new , tougher teacher
evaluations. New York is one of only two states to fast track the
transition to Common Core.

While the Governor can’t directly
affect education policy, he and the legislature can pass legislation to
slow down the implementation of the Common Core standards. Many groups,
including teachers unions, have been calling for a moratorium. At each
stop the governor has made in recent days, he has hinted that he might
just try to do that.

“The state could pass a law that stops it, starts it, accelerates it, etc.,” Cuomo said.

The governor says he’s going to be keeping an eye on the situation.

Cuomo is twisting himself into a pretzel trying to make like he had nothing to do with the state's education reform agenda, nothing to do with the Common Core implementation or tests or teacher evaluation systems that mandates these tests, but people remember his dubbing himself the "lobbyist" for students and pushing all of these reforms on the state.

The record is there to see and read and hear from his past speeches, statements and press releases.

2 comments:

Check out Benjamin Weiser's story in today's NY Times regarding the city time scandal. This is a direct quote by Mayor Bloomberg, "We have zero tolerance for corruption, and its why we have run the cleanest administration in New York City's history". WOW !!

If we had a honest, independent press that wasn't either working for Bloomberg directly or working for one of his plutocrat cronies, they would call him on this crap. CityTime, 911 system over runs, the DOE scandals (Willard Lanham, Judith Hederman, etc.) - he's lit a lot of money on fire and thrown it right to the crooked consultants with almost nil oversight. Alas, the press are afraid they will have to work for him, or they're already working for him, so we instead get the "Bloomberg is a genius" meme.